


How to Keep a Human's Heart

by reginliefvalkyrie



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Humor, M/M, Romance, Spoilers if you haven't seen the show, angst later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2020-12-29 11:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 11,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginliefvalkyrie/pseuds/reginliefvalkyrie
Summary: This is the sequel to 'How to Win a Human's Heart' that takes place during the Netflix tv show 'Dragons Race to the Edge'.The rating is mostly because it's a romance between a human and a dragon. Aside from that, it has the same rating at the movies and shows.





	1. Need to Know

This is a sequel to my other work ‘How to Win a Human's Heart’. I originally had no intention of doing anything more with it, but people seem to still really like it. I thought I’d give it another shot. Hopefully I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

  1. You don’t need to read the first story to understand this one.
  2. These stories take place during the Netflix TV series Dragons Race to the Edge. It’s not every episode but does follow the timeline.
  3. Hiccup and Toothless are already in a secret romantic relationship that the other dragons helped him obtain.
  4. There’s no dragonese, humanoid Toothless, or dragon Hiccup.
  5. There is also no sexual content.
  6. Toothless is the ‘main character’ and through him you can understand the other dragons.
  7. When I get to it, I will deal/explain the relationship that develops between Hiccup and Astrid, so don’t ask about it.


	2. Things Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, but we're just getting started.

Toothless twisted his head around to watch Stormfly and Astrid fly off. He’d already known about the two joining the Berk Guard. Stormfly had told him Astrid had been talking about lately. He turned to Hiccup, the beautiful scene before them forgotten.

His human was visibly crushed. He’d probably figured Astrid would stick by him, never give up the search. Now she was leaving too.

Toothless crooned softly nuzzling Hiccup.

He gave a small smile. “I’m okay, Bud.” He wrapped an arm around the dragon’s neck. “It’s just, sad that this is it.”

Toothless nuzzled him again. They could keep searching alone, but they both knew despite how strong a nigh fury was, they couldn’t do everything alone.

“But this can’t be it. We haven’t found other night furies. You can’t be the only one.” Hiccup gestured before them with one arm. “There has to be more out there.” He let his arm fall. “There has to be.”

He sounded so defeated it broke Toothless’ heart. The dragon made a sad noise pressing his face into the side of Hiccup’s. In response, Hiccup scratched under his love’s chin kissing the corner of his mouth.

“Perhaps this is a sign I should focus less on adventuring and more on learning to be a chief.”

Toothless didn’t think he sounded all that excited about the idea. He wrapped a wing around Hiccup like a hug. Hiccup leaned against the dragon’s sturdy form sliding his arms around one of Toothless’ front legs.

“I guess it doesn’t really matter what I do as long as you do it with me.”

Toothless trilled happily pulling his wing tighter around them. The last three, quiet years had been nice. They’d been through enough. They’d done enough. The future would never be truly boring as long as they had the people of Berk and the other Dragon Riders around. More importantly, they had each other.

After a time of simply staring off into the distance, Hiccup pulled away. “It’s getting late. We should probably head back and spare ourselves a lecture.”

Toothless reluctantly agreed getting to his feet. He pressed his face to Hiccup’s before allowing the human to climb into the saddle.


	3. The Reaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the dialogue comes from the episode 'Eye of the Beholder 1'' or Dragon Eye of the Beholder 1' (According to the wiki page). I added to it and made it more shipy. Heh, pun intended.

Toothless wasn’t thrilled about flying them to the Reaper, but Hiccup had been insistent. Something about this boat didn’t feel right and every fiber of his being was screaming at him to leave. Yet despite all his misgivings, he wouldn’t, even if he could. Hiccup needed him and he’d never abandon his lover.

Hiccup slid from Toothless’ saddle giving him a reassuring pat on the neck. “This boat is definitely not from the archipelago.” He started to slowly walk across the deck. Toothless wasn’t far behind. “These carvings, the design on the sail. I've never seen anything like this.” They stopped at a large to a human, but small to a dragon, cage. “And this metal.” Hiccup made a move to touch it.

Toothless made an unhappy noise slightly nudging him.

“Come on, Bud, it's just an empty cage.” The human knelt to peer through the square holes.

A quick movement caught their attention and they both cried out. A bird flapped by.

Hiccup forced a laugh. “Okay, now... now it's an empty cage.”

The night fury shot him a disapproving and annoyed look.

“Don’t give me that look. I know what it means.” He waged a half-hearted finger. “It was just a bird.”

Toothless snorted. He was a bit angry with himself. If that had been an enemy, Hiccup could have been killed.

Hiccup pushed himself to his feet using Toothless for support. “We need to go below deck.”

Toothless now gave him a doubtful look.

“Yes, I’m sure. If something’s here, it’s going to be below.” He wrapped an arm around his dragon’s neck and nuzzled his face against his. “Come on, Bud.” They walked linked like this towards the hatch. “Don't you want to see what's down below?” Toothless made a negative noise trying to pull his lover away from the hatch. All he did was slide Hiccup’s arm from around his neck. “All right, fine. Guess I'm going alone.” Hiccup grabbed the hatch and heaved it open with a grunt. Before he could start down, a rope from seemingly out of nowhere shot out and latched onto Hiccup's foot. He shouted in surprise as he was yanked from off his feet and dragged towards the edge of the ship. Toothless darted after his human shooting a plasma blast to snap the rope just before Hiccup went over.

Hiccup ripped the remainder from his flesh foot and tossed it aside like a dead rat. He hugged Toothless as tight as he could. It had been years since something possibly life ending dangerous had happened. Toothless crooned softly curling a wing around them. “I’m okay, Bud, I’m okay. Just, haven’t had my heart rate double like that in a while.” Hiccup gave him a squeeze before getting up. “Okay. Nobody goes to this much trouble unless there's something on this boat that they don't want found.”

Toothless wanted nothing more than to get off this cursed boat, but he knew, even if he could speak, he’d never convince his human. Normally, he loved that Hiccup was inquisitive, but not at this moment.

Giving in to the inevitable, the night fury shot a weak blast to light a lantern Hiccup happened to find lying around.

“Watch your step, Bud.” Hiccup started down the latter and when his prosthetic foot touched the floor, a bear trap sprang to life and clamped around it. “Ooh, Toothless.” He cried out in surprise leaning back against the latter. “One of the benefits of a metal leg, I suppose.” He forced another laugh prying the jaws apart, freeing his foot.

Toothless hopped down from the latter and immediately tried to nudge Hiccup back into the saddle.

“Hey, hey, calm down.” The human stroked his dragon’s head soothingly. “I know, that was stupid and careless of me, but there’s not enough space down here for me to sit on your back and even if I could, I wouldn’t.” He kissed the spot between Toothless’ eyes. “I worry about you too. I couldn’t let you take the risks for me.”

Toothless still wasn’t pleased.

“We’ll both be extra careful.” He promised as they walked forward. “Let's just take this nice and...” He stopped.

Before them was a reminder of the jail cells on Outcast Island only inside the cells were large white objects. Objects that looked like…

Toothless whined crouching low. He knew something was wrong with this boat.

“Dragon bones.” Hiccup’s voice was barley a whisper. He slid an arm around his partner. “I'm sorry you had to see this, Bud. Whoever commanded this ship was certainly no friend of dragons. I’m sure they’re all gone by now.” He buried his face in black scales for a moment. “Let's get out of here.” They pulled apart and the next step he took caused his foot to sink slightly. Arrows shot out and Toothless deflected them from striking his lover.

“All right, come on, Toothless!” Hiccup held up his shield to protect their other side. “Let's go!”

No longer caring about traps, they darted across the open space dodging arrows. Somehow, they made it safely to the other side. The other side contained a decorative door.

“Commander's quarters.” Hiccup figured. “Stay close, Bud. We need to open the door without triggering possible traps.”

Toothless was beyond done with this killer ship and he just wanted to get the hell out of here.

“Okay, so here's the plan.”

Without a care, the night fury shot a plasma blast at the door blowing it open. He was aware it was reckless and stupid, but he was the past the point of caring.

Surprised, Hiccup stared at his dragon. “I like yours better.”

Seeing that nothing was coming after them, the two slowly made their way into the commander’s quarters.

There was a skeleton sitting at a desk with dragon skulls on the chair. The skeleton was clutching something on the desk’s surface. It had the same shape of a weapon’s shaft.

“What is this thing?” Hiccup approached the desk getting a warning growl from Toothless. “Whatever it is, if it's on this ship, it's no good for dragons.” He glanced back at Toothless. “Which means we're not leaving it here for Dagur.” He turned back to the cylindrical object. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the object and pulled both the object and the hand towards himself. “Hmm... Huh. Well, that wasn't too...” Something crashed with a crack on the desk barley missing hitting Hiccup’s hand. “GIANT AXE!” He spun away. “Toothless, run!” No sooner had the words left his mouth, that spikes started jetting from the floor they had to run through. “Watch it, Toothless!” He’d never forgive himself if his love was injured because of his stubbornness.

Together they ran back through the gauntlet jumping over spikes and shielding themselves from flying arrows. Toothless grabbed Hiccup and practically flew up the latter releasing him once they were safe on deck.

And that’s when they saw him.

Dagur.

He stood before a dragon cage flanked by two henchmen.

The night fury growled low crouching to attack should any of them make a move towards his human.

Hiccup placed a hand on his scaled head. “Toothless, hold.”

Dagur grinned that unnerving grin of his. “Hiccup! Did you miss me?”


	4. Dragon Eye

They’d gathered at the Dragon Academy after breakfast giving the humans a chance to do whatever it was humans did when they weren’t around.

“What do you think that thing Hiccup found is?” Stormfly asked cleaning her scales.

“That’s what he’s trying to figure out.” Toothless explained. “He spent all last night checking it from every angle and tried to pry it open.”

Hiccup had bounced theories off Toothless of what the item was and why Dagur could want it. Towards the end, his theories had become more outlandish. They ranged from jewels to a trapped dragon soul. He’d ended up falling asleep on Toothless. The night fury had had to reposition himself to make sure his human didn’t wake with kinks in his joints. This of course caused Toothless to end up with them.

“Did you try blasting it?” Bark suggested. “That always works for the twins.”

“Until it doesn’t. Then they smash it. “Belch added.

“That might damage the Dragon Eye.” Toothless shook his head.

“The what?” Hookfang asked showing he was paying attention. At least a little.

“The Dragon Eye. That’s what Hiccup dubbed that thing we found.”

The monsterous nightmare snorted smoke through his nostrils. “That’s a stupid name.”

“And what would you call it?” Meatlug inquired knowing the answer would be good.

“Dragon Doohickey.”

“Uh huh. All in favor of ‘Dragon Eye’ raise a wing.” Stormfly said raising a wing. Toothless followed soon after with Meatlug. Bark and Belch raised both.

“It’s still a stupid name.” Hookfang muttered.

“Your objection is duly noted.” Toothless shot him a look before continuing where he’d left off. “Hiccup took it to Gobur so he’s probably attempting to open it.”

“But.” Meatlug stressed. “You look like you want to say something.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s supposed to open. When Hiccup shook it, I heard a little movement, but not a lot.”

Stormfly considered this. “Maybe it’s packed full of stuff.”

“Packed with what?”

“I don’t know. Humans do weird, pointless things all the time.”

Toothless was about to object on Hiccup’s behalf but stopped himself. She had a point.

“The Dragon Eye isn’t very big.” Meatlug pointed out. “Perhaps it contains a map or knowledge.”

“A map?!” Hookfang and the zippleback exclaimed at the same time.

“It is a treasure map?” Belch leaned his head close to Toothless.

“What kind of treasure do you think it is?” Barf’s head was right next to the other’s/

“It must be pirate treasure.”

“Full of gold and jewels.”

“So much you could swim in it.”

“A human or dragon?”

“Both.”

“And then after you swim through it, you can sleep on it.”

“That sounds awesome! When do we leave?”

“Yeah, Toothless, when do we leave?”

“We’re not going anywhere.” He roared shoving them both away. “We don’t even know if it is a map.”

“Putting aside what it is, for now.” Meatlug turned to Toothless. “What do you think’s going to happen?”

Before he could answer, Hookfang did. “Probably something dangerous and stupid that’ll get us all killed in horrible ways.”

“You don’t know that.” Stormfly snapped. “We haven’t died.”

“Yet.”

Meatlug’s ears drooped. “I was hoping we were done with all this scary stuff.”

Toothless was kind of hoping they were done adventuring too, but he knew how excited Hiccup had been while examining the Dragon Eye last night. He hadn’t seen him that excited over anything in a while. Seeing his love that happy had made him happy, yet he knew, big trouble was attached to the Dragon Eye.

“Toothless!” Hiccup called from the dragon academy entrance. The Dragon Eye in one of his hands. He raced down the slope giving his dragon lover a one arm hug. “We have a lead.” He pointed to the strange holes on the top. “A Snow Wraith’s tooth should fit in here, like a key of some kind, and Gobber got Gothi to agree to take us to one tomorrow.”

The night fury nuzzled his human making a happy noise doing his best to distract Hiccup from seeing the uneasy looks the other dragons were sharing. None of them knew what a Snow Wraith was, but it was highly unlikely it was anything pleasant.


	5. Death Song

Stormfly struggled in vain to free herself from the golden shell.

“Would you stop that already?” Hookfang snapped. “You’re just going to make yourself stringy and then the Death Song will eat me before you.”

She glared at him as she made a point to struggle harder.

Toothless sighed. “Stormfly, he’s right.”

“I am?”

“He is?”

“Only the part about stopping.” Toothless clarified. “You’re not going to break out and you’ll only hurt yourself if you keep trying.”

She gave one final yank and pull before giving up. “Ugh! Who’s stupid idea was it to come to this stupid island anyway?”

“Ours.” Meatlug said sadly. The parts of her body not in amber sagged.

By ‘ours’ she meant the dragons.

“No, it’s not.” Barf, or was it Belch, Toothless couldn’t tell from his current angle, objected.

“Yeah.” The other head added. “It was that song’s fault. We didn’t do anything but follow the song.”

“You mean the song that led us to our doom?” Hookfang reminded them.

“Right.” Both heads attempted a nod.

Stormfly groaned. “We’re supposed to be smarter than that, at least some of us are.” She looked to Toothless the best she could. “What’re we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He wasn’t feeling all that great right now. He’d fallen prey to the Death Song’s song too. it had been luck that he hadn’t been caught the first time. Stormfly was right. They were smarter than this. He never should have left Hiccup’s side last night or at least woken him up. The pull had been too strong, and he’d failed. He was supposed to help Hiccup keep everyone out of trouble, not get in it himself.

Hiccup.

Toothless hoped he was safe. His human had taken a tumble and Toothless hadn’t been there to catch him. Another fail.

A whimper like noise caught his attention. It took Toothless a moment to find the source.

It was a baby thunderdrum. Probably the child of the wild one they’d seen earlier. It looked so frightened.

“Everything’s going to be fine.” Toothless tried to assure it. “That human that managed to escape, he’ll come back and he’ll free us.”

“Dad says humans are bad.” The baby replied.

“They can be, but a lot of them are really nice. Hiccup, that’s my human, he’s a friend to all dragons.”

“He’s a friend alright.” Barf laughed despite the situation.

“And more if you’re a night fury.” Belch continued.

Toothless shot a weak plasma blast as close to their faces as he could manage. “Ignore them.” He said to the thunderdrum. “Hiccup will come back and save us. Somehow.”

“Maybe to save YOU.” Hookfang whined. “He’d ditch the rest of us. We’re not his mate.”

“Would you shut up?” Stormfly snapped. “He’s not you and Snotty over there.”

“He’s coming for all of us, dragons and humans, and together we’ll do something about that Death Song.” Toothless was sure of it.


	6. Our Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated on calling this one 'Our Love Nest' to be funny.

Hiccup leaned back against Toothless. His plan was working perfectly. While the others made models of their ideal fort, he was free to relax with his partner.

“This is nice, isn’t it, Bud?” He slowly stroked Toothless’ head.

The dragon trilled in agreement. The weather was gorgeous, and everything was quiet. It was the perfect spot to take a nap.

“It’s so nice, I could easily take a nap.”

Toothless laughed causing Hiccup to twist and look at him.

“Did you have the same idea?” It was his turn to laugh. “Great minds think alike.” He made himself comfortable again. “Do you hear that sound, Toothless?” He closed his eyes. “That’s the sound of peace and quiet. You know, making them work together might be the best idea I’ve ever had.”

Toothless wasn’t so sure about that. One thing he’d learned from his time around the others was the peace and quiet never lasted long. Something always happened. He saw Fishlegs and Snoutlout reach for the same rock.

And here that something comes.

* * *

“Well.” Hiccup crossed his arms watching his friends spread out to their own sections. They could see the twins arguing about what would go were. Astrid was already gathering materials. Fishlegs was talking to Meatlug, probably about what plants they’d plant. Snoutlout was being chased around by Hookfang after trying to make him work. “I settled that argument pretty well, didn’t I?”

Toothless gave him a ‘for now’ look. Had his human not learned anything from recent events? This peace never lasted.

“It’ll last longer than last time.” He said in defense.

Maybe. With the group they had, who knew.

“Come on.” Hiccup motioned for Toothless to follow. “I want to show you the spot I picked out for us.”

This peaked the dragon’s interest. ‘For us’? A house just for them? He danced around Hiccup as they walked making him laugh. A house just for them!

“There, what’dya think, Bud?” Hiccup made a ‘ta-da’ gesture.

Toothless made a show of inspecting the area before licking Hiccup excitedly. He didn’t really care where the house was, as long as it was theirs, but it seemed to matter to his human, so he’d pretend it mattered to him too.

“Glad you like it.” Hiccup wrapped an arm around the night fury’s neck. “There’ll be a loft where we’ll sleep, and the main floor will be devoted to all the inventions we come up with and a forge. We’ll definitely need one of those.” He eyed Toothless’ tail. “I have a bunch of new tail fin designs I can’t wait to build. They’ll make you faster and increase your aerial turns and I’ll figure out a way to make them tougher. You’ll be even more amazing.”

Toothless’ chest filled with pride. His lover was the amazing one. His Hiccup was so smart. He came up with all kinds of ingenious things others couldn’t even dream up.

Hiccup made sure no one was paying attention to them before giving Toothless a kiss. “We’ll build it together, though you’ll have to do the heavy lifting.” He laughed. “It’ll be a nice home away from home I think.”

The night fury nuzzled against him. He couldn’t agree more.


	7. Rumblehorn Rumble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half takes place after stopping the wave, but before the next morning, so Skullcrusher doesn't have his name yet.

“Eat up, big fella.” Stoic dumped the large bucket of fish out before the rumblehorn. He made a happy noise when Stoic patted his head though from such a beast it sounded grumpy. “There’s more where that came from.” They’d planned to feed the new dragon to his heart’s content as thanks for saving them. Toothless figured it was also so he wouldn’t leave in the middle of the night. He didn’t think that’d be a problem though.

Despite only knowing each other such a short time, Toothless could already tell there was something forming between the rumblehorn and Stoic.

Stoic gave the big beast what could only be considered a loving horn pat before leaving with the rest of the humans.

“Thank you for saving us.” Toothless bowed his head. “Without you, the Edge would have been destroyed.”

“Happy to help.” He grunted. “But you guys weren’t easy. You ignored all my warnings.”

“Yeah, about that.”

“What was your problem, anyway?” Hookfang interrupted speaking with his mouth full of chewed fish. “You kept recking our humans’ stuff.”

“That’s our job.” Barf said.

“And we’re really good at it.” Belch added.

Rumblehorn sniffed indigently. “I thought if I trashed your camp, your humans would get the idea and leave. No one else on the island was as stubborn as you lot.”

“Then why didn’t you just say something?” Meatlug asked scooping up a mouthful of rocks. “It would have saved a lot of confusion and time.”

He grunted focusing on his meal. “You attacked me the first time you saw me.”

Toothless cringed.

“And every time after.” Barf grinned. “Remember the time he bashed into Hookfang?”

“Oh yeah. Send him sprawling.” Belch added.

“And Snoutlout got his head stuck in that tree.”

“Epic.”

Stormfly looked to Toothless. “Those were two different instances.”

“It’s the zippleback.” Was all he said.

Hookfang blew smoke from his nostrils. “I wasn’t taking the fights seriously. If I had been.” He jerked his head at the rumblehorn. “Would be begging for mercy.”

Rummblehorn gave the monstrous nightmare the once over. “I’m here now. Interested to see what happens?”

Before Hookfang could speak, Toothless abandoned his meal and stood between them. “No. There’s no fighting amongst ourselves.” He’d flex his muscles to keep craziness from getting out of hand. Hiccup kept the humans in line, and he kept the dragons in check. “I’m sorry for all those times we attacked you. It was poor judgement on both our and our humans’ part.”

“Which could have all been avoided if you’d just told us about the giant wave.” Stormfly

Toothless swiped his tail at her.

“I don’t have to explain my actions to what were strangers at the time.” The rumblehorn licked his lips going for more fish. “The other dragons on the island followed without question. You should have done the same.”

Stormfly opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought, but Toothless shook his head stopping her.

“What’s done is done.” The night fury said. “We all got off to a bad start. If we’re going to work together, we need to forgive and forget.”

Meatlug nodded in agreement. “We’re all going to be living on this island.”

“Maybe, but I think Stoic has another idea.”

All the dragons turned to him.

“It’s been several years since Thornado left. I think Stoic’s found a possible partner.” He grinned at the rumblehorn. “The two of you worked well together and so quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stoic asked you to return with him to Berk. This choice is yours, of course. Either way, we’re happy to call you one of us.”

The rumblehorn studied his remaining meal. “I shall consider it.”

* * *

The sun was just starting to crest over the ocean. Hiccup lounged against Toothless as they watched.

“I’m so glad that’s over.” Hiccup nuzzled closer to Toothless. “The rumblehorn, my dad, the giant wave of death, Gobber.” He groaned.

Toothless flicked a wing around him. It had been a hectic mess, but as usual, they made it through.

“It all turned out for the best though, right?” He lazily rubbed a hand up and down one of the night fury’s front legs. “Dad found a new dragon partner. It’s good. Skullcrusher’s him in dragon form. They’re both loud and bossy.” Toothless made a noise in objection. “And protective.” Hiccup added. “I didn’t forget. They’ll be good for each other. They can both be stubborn together.”

They sat in silence. The bird chirps, buzzing bugs, and crashing waves were the only sounds. Familiar sounds.

“You know my dad, unless he’s angry, it’s hard to tell what he’s feeling, but he was happy. Skullcrusher’s exactly who he needs.” Hiccup paused. “When he had to let go of Thornado, I was worried. Even if the others aren’t like us, the bond between dragon and rider is strong. It has to be like losing a piece of yourself.” His hand stopped moving. “I can’t, I don’t want to imagine what it must feel like.” He tilted his head to look up and Toothless maneuvered his to look down. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, bud.”

The dragon leaned in and pressed his face against Hiccup’s.

“I love you too.” Hiccup hugged Toothless around the neck.


	8. Dragonfly One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place at the beginning of The Next Big Sting. This is also the last story in season 1. Next up, season 2.

As early as possible, which when the twins and Snoutlout were concerned, wasn’t that early honestly, Hiccup insisted the gang, and Toothless of course, accompany him to the highest peak over water he knew of.

There was plenty of grumbling, but they dutifully followed.

“Okay Hiccup.” Astrid asked once they reached the top. Toothless found it a bit weird that she sounded breathless. “You dragged us all the way up here.”

“Now what is it you have to show us?” Tuffnut groaned. “It better involve food.” He held up one finger. “Or destruction.” He held up a second finger. “Or a combination of the two.”

Toothless cocked his head. There wouldn’t be food, but it was highly probable destruction would make an appearance.

Like an excited child on Snoggltog, Hiccup unfastened his prize from Toothless’ saddle. “I bet you're wondering why I brought you here today. And the answer is, to show you my latest invention.” He twisted around to the others with a flourish. “Presenting the Dragonfly One.”

As Toothless expected, nobody seemed all that impressed. For his part, Toothless thought it was a great invention, even if he didn’t like it. He understood Hiccup’s reasoning behind it, it was solid reasoning unlike some of the things he thought of, but Toothless still wasn’t a fan of the idea. Part of his brain kept asking ‘if this thing works, would Hiccup still want me around?’.

That part of Toothless’ brain was stupid, very, very stupid and he promptly ignored it. It also kind of sounded like Thornado. Of course Hiccup would still want Toothless around. They weren’t just dragon and rider, they weren’t just friends either, they were everything. And no flight suit thingy was going to change that.

Chicken clucked softly as Tuffnut raised her one handed. “The chicken is not amused.” He said in all seriousness. Chicken clucked again loudly before hopping off his hand.

Toothless really didn’t like that dumb bird nor did Tuffnut’s strange obsession make any sense. Humans were weird. He wished he could eat it or feed it to Stormfly without either of them getting into trouble.

“What is it?” Snoutlout asked with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

At this point, Hiccup had unfurled Dragonfly One in all its glory and was waving it around a little. “It's a flight suit.” He lowered it to see everyone’s expressions. “Don't all applaud at once.”

Toothless narrowed his eyes at the humans and maybe showed his teeth a little. He should have expected this. Almost nobody understood his genius lover at first. Did humans not learn? His personal feelings aside, this was a remarkable invention and they should be in aw of his human’s intelligence.

Fishlegs wrapped his arm around Meatlug’s the best he could. “Hiccup, I don't need to remind you that we already have flying dragons.” He scratched her head and she melted into butter. “Why would we ever need a flight suit?”

While he spoke, Hiccup cinched on his invention. “Well, what if we were to get separated from our dragons mid-flight? We might need to solo fly until we catch up with them again.

“When this doesn't work, and it clearly will not, can I have Toothless?” Snoutlout asked in a way too chipper voice for the night fury’s taste.

“Oh, for Thor's sake.” Hiccup muttered before making his way over to the cliff’s edge.

Toothless growled low in his throat. If Snoutlout came anywhere near him, he wouldn’t be missing a foot. He’d be missing a head.

Astrid asked. “What are you planning on doing here?

“Jumping.” Hiccup stated the obvious turning back to his friends. “Unless someone has a better idea.”

Toothless had a lot of better ideas, but he’d promised Hiccup he wouldn’t interfere. He regretted making that promise.

She slapped her palm to her face making a disgusted sound. “Boys!”

Toothless made a noise of agreement. His Hiccup was amazing, but this was dangerous. Couldn’t an expendable party member test it? Like Snoutlout. Nobody’d miss Snoutlout. He felt guilty for thinking that. Hookfang would. Their friendship was weird, but it was still a friendship.

“Guys, relax! Feel that updraft? That's why I chose this place. It'll pick up my wings and I'll be floating on a bed of air.” Hiccup pulled on the release lever and only half of the wings opened. He grabbed the unopen half and tried to force it open. He gave an awkward chuckle as he tried.

‘Oh human gods!’ Toothless thought. ‘He’s going to die!’

Just as Hiccup was able to open the other half, Snoutlout had to jab. “Or crashing on a bed of rock.”

Hiccup shot him a nasty look, which, in Toothless’ opinion was more cute then menacing. “Okay, everyone. Dragonfly One, maiden flight.” He lept from the cliff and immediately started to plummet.

“Hiccup!” Astrid cried echoing Toothless’ thoughts as he sprinted off the edge and dived after Hiccup.

The night fury was able to tuck Hiccup against his body and cocoon him with his wings before they crashed into the water. Together they swam back to the surface and pulled themselves onto the rocks.

“Thanks, bud.” Hiccup patted him on the shoulder.

Toothless shot him an angry glare.

“I’m okay. See?” He gestured to himself. “You caught me just in time.”

The dragon still glared.

“Ah, come on, it was just the first test. Those never work. Remember all the trials and errors with your tail? And that was before you liked me.”

Toothless made a point to shake off as much water from himself onto Hiccup as he could.

“Okay, okay, I get it. You’re not happy. But you promised to let me do this. It will work. Trust me, alright?” He smiled and Toothless let his objection go. That smile wasn’t fair.

* * *

“Okay, so I made a few tweaks. Now behold some serious flying.” And before Toothless was ready, he lept off the edge.

The dragon held his breath as he watched. It, it was actually working. It was more of a glide then flying, but still. Hiccup was…uh oh.

Like before, he started to plummet.

For a split second, Toothless debated on letting him fall, it would teach him a lesson or two, but worry won out and he darted after him. With practiced ease, Toothless caught him and cocooned him just as they hit the water.

As they emerged from the water, Toothless gave a ‘enough is enough’ growl. This time had been close. He had the thicker skin and could take the falls without getting hurt. If he hadn’t caught Hiccup…

“That was an improvement!” Hiccup sounded excited completely ignoring Toothless’ growl. “I have a new theory on how to test it.”

The dragon headbutted him knocking the human over.

“Careful, bud. You used too much strength.” When Toothless snorted, Hiccup realized. “Ah, you meant to. Are, are you really that mad at me?”

Mad would be too easy to deal with. Toothless could deal with mad. No, he was worried Hiccup would get seriously hurt, wanted him to succeed so he’d be happy, a little nervous he would succeed and make Toothless feel useless, annoyed the Dragonfly One wasn’t working making Hiccup look like a fool, and yes, mad.

“Okay, yeah, it’s not going well, but we’re making progress.” Hiccup glanced up, saw the others had backed away from the cliff’s edge once they were sure he wasn’t dead, and gave Toothless a quick kiss. “I almost have this. Please, let me try again.”

Toothless growled softly.

“I know, it’s frustrating. I can do this though.” He hesitated which the night fury knew meant he was about to ask him something unpleasant. “Can you, ah, wait to come after me until I call?”

If eyes could kill, Toothless’ would have.

“Just this once.” Hiccup held up a finger. “Once. Let’s try it. This one time.”

Toothless didn’t let up.

“I’ll get you a bucket of your favorite fish.”

Nothing.

“I’ll find an even better spot for us to watch the sunrise.”

Toothless didn’t move. He was not going to be bribed.

“Please, bud, are you really going to make me beg?”

It was tempting. Toothless, though, gave in. This meant something to Hiccup and he was going to support him. He stood motioning for Hiccup to climb into the saddle.

* * *

Hiccup readjusted the suit. “This time, I absolutely know where I went wrong. You see, it's all in the timing. I just judged the updrafts wrong. I assure you, I definitely have it now.” Despite what they’d agreed on, Toothless moved to intervene. “Wait, Toothless. Don't worry, bud. I've got this under control.”

Toothless recalled a human saying ‘famous last words’. It seemed appropriate.

The wind picked up enough speed to bend a young tree. “See? There it is. Okay, now!” When he jumped, Astrid ran up to Toothless’ side to watch. As Hiccup began to drop, the dragon couldn’t fight his instincts and used a wing to shield his eyes. He couldn’t watch his human turn to mush.

What seemed like the last second, the wind caught the fake wings and lifted Hiccup. “Whoa! Wait! I'm flying? I'm flying!” The wind carried Hiccup around a pillar of rocks jetting out from the water. “Woo-hoo! Excellent!”

Toothless let out a sigh of relief.

Snotlout watched dumbfounded. “I cannot believe that hunk of junk actually worked.”

The river curved meaning Hiccup had to curve with it or run smack dab into the rocky wall. “Okay, right turn.” Hiccup tried to turn the flight suit, but it didn’t respond. “Okay, well, I might have to work on the steering a little bit.” The rock wall was getting closer. “Toothless!"

The moment he heard the call, Toothless took off. He shouldn’t have agreed to this. Flying straight out wouldn’t get him there in time. He pushed himself off the rocky patches along the river giving himself extra speed. Hiccup barrel rolled and judging from the cries of surprise and shock, it wasn’t on purpose.

Right as the water in the river became more plentiful and seconds before Hiccup met the rock wall, Toothless dived. This time he wasn’t able to cocoon his human in the safety of his wings. They hit the water and Toothless swam them both to the water’s edge.

Hiccup coughed up water as he struggled to get to his feet. “Thanks for the save, bud.”

Toothless spat his mouthful of water at him just as he regained his footing knocking him back to the ground. “Again.” He sighed. “I might have deserved that.”

The dragon made a noise that was close to a laugh but was just different enough to be an ‘I told you so’. He let Hiccup brace against him as he stood then checked him over for injuries.

“I’m okay, bud.” He patted him on the head. “My pride’s a little wounded, but that’s nothing new.” He gave Toothless the once over. “What about you? You okay?”

Toothless warbled his response. He picked up a broken off wing and handed it to his human.

“Well, it looks like our flight tests are probably over for the day.” Hiccup opened and closed a broke piece of the wing. He looked crushed and that made Toothless sad. He nuzzled against Hiccup and received a one-armed hug. “It happens, bud. It happens.”

“Okay, that's it.” Stormfly landed nearby and Astrid hopped off. “You're done with this.” She had her hands on her hips. Toothless recognized it as the universal sign that arguing was not an option. If only he could do that.

“Right.” Hiccup agreed but whispered. “For now.”

Toothless made a disapproving noise deep in his throat. He felt for Hiccup, but that thing needed to be buried. He might be able to trick Barf and Belch into doing it.


	9. After Dragon Hunters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All leaders need a little comfort and reassurance every now and then.  
This takes place after the two dragon hunter episodes.

Toothless heated up his rock for bed before curling up. Hiccup unceremoniously flopped down on him in the curve between body and tail. The dragon craned his neck to look down at his lover.

“You don’t mind, do ya, Bud?”

Of course he didn’t mind. He loved it when Hiccup slept beside him, he was just worried he wouldn’t be comfortable not in a proper bed. Toothless nuzzled Hiccup the best he could repositioning himself so Hiccup wouldn’t develop a kink in any of his joints. Humans were so fragile.

Hiccup stroked the black scales on the dragon’s side. “I keep hoping I’ll wake up and this will all be some terrible dream.”

Toothless made a curious noise.

“Not the finding new dragons part. Just Dagur, Heather, Dragon Hunters.” He sighed. “Everyone wanting to kill us. I said I wanted adventure and now I have it in spades.” He snuggled closer to his lover. “Dragon root arrows and Heather with Windshear. We got out by the skin of our teeth. I don’t know what we’re going to do, Bud. We have to do something, obviously, I just.” He paused. “This is bigger than Alvin and the Outcasts and Dagur and the Berserkers. It might be too big.”

The night fury growled his objection. He moved from the rock slab, out from under Hiccup, so fast, that Hiccup smacked into it. The human cried out in a mixture of surprise and pain pushing himself up to an elbow as he rubbed the back of his head. Before he could say anything, the man-made tail was waved in his face. Once he was sitting on the edge of the rock, Toothless nudged his prosthetic foot.

“Bud, what’re you?”

Toothless lept down to the main floor, snatched Hiccup’s shield from its wall mount and brought it where he could see it from his perch. He dropped it with a clatter and repeated the process with the Dragonfly One. He then hurried to Hiccup’s desk and gestured to the sketch book that not only held drawings of himself, but all of Hiccup’s inventions. Now he jumped back to the loft and stared at Hiccup expectantly.

Hiccup furrowed his brow attempting to make sense of what he was trying to be told.

Oh!

“Smart and inventive, it’s, it might not be enough.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

Toothless leaned in pressing their faces together.

Slowly, they broke apart and Hiccup kneeled wrapping his arms around the dragon’s neck in a hug. “Yeah, I have you. I’ll always have you.”

Toothless ‘croo’ed a special way that was for Hiccup only.

“I love you, too.” He gave a gentle squeeze before pulling away. Toothless took the opportunity to lick Hiccup’s cheek making it as slobbery as possible. The human made a disgusted noise causing Toothless to laugh as he hopped back to the rock slab. He laid down making sure to leave a place for Hiccup.

Hiccup wiped the saliva off. “You’re not as cute as you think you are.” The gummy grin he received said otherwise. “Fine, maybe a little.” He moved to the spot Toothless left for him. “Or a lot.” He snuggled as close as possible to his lover’s larger body. “Don’t let it go to your head.” Toothless situated himself slightly fanning out a wing to act as a blanket. In seconds, Hiccup drifted off with an at ease smile.


	10. The Zippleback Experence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so glad Barf and Belch act basically the same because I would never be able to keep which is which straight. Kind of like the twins.

This was getting ridicules and Toothless had had enough! That troublesome Zippleback had gone too far! Their stupidity had caused an explosion in his and Hiccup’s house.

He found Barf and Belch thankfully not hovering over his human.

“First you yank Hiccup off my back where I could have seriously gotten hurt. You dropped him from the sky.”

“Not our fault.” Barf defended.

“He told us to.” Belch added.

“Because of you, we crashed landed causing his metal foot to break.” Toothless continued. “You barged into our house and tried to explode it.”

“Not our intention.”

“But it was cool, am I right?”

“Totally.”

“You could have killed my Hiccup.” He bared his teeth. “I don’t know what your problem is, but it needs to stop. Now.”

Neither head looked the least bit fazed. “We have to fulfil the life debit.” They said at the same time.

“Life debit? Are you talking about what happened earlier today?”

“Hiccup saved our life.” Barf said.

“We owe it to him to serve him for the rest of his.” Belch continued.

“Or ours.”

“Depends on which one ends first.”

“Shouldn’t it be ours? If he dies, doesn’t that mean we failed?”

“If it’s old age, do we still fail?”

Knowing this could go on a while and not really wanting to think about his lover’s death, Toothless roared to get their attention again. “I know it’s hard for the two of you, but can you please focus?”

“Don’t worry.” Barf assured him. “We’re not interested in Hiccup like that.”

“He’s all yours.”

Toothless spluttered. “That’s not. That wasn’t even. Where did that even come from?”

“That’s what you’re talking to us, isn’t it?” Belch asked.

“Worried we were going to steal your life mate.” Barf added.

“Why would we want him?”

“He’s so tiny.”

“And puny.”

They were trying what little patients Toothless still had. “Enough with the never-ending prattle. Hiccup and I are solid.” And if they did break up, it definitely wouldn’t be so Hiccup could run to these two mutton heads. “You need to stop bothering Hiccup. He has work to do and you’re getting in his way. Not to mention you might accidently kill him and then I’ll have to ‘accidently’ return the favor.”

“How do you accidently return a favor?” Barf wondered.

Belch cocked his head. “Would it be when you do something mean to someone, but it actually turns out to be a nice thing?”

Toothless closed his eyes and counted to ten. He was not going to cause bodily harm to the Zippleback. 

* * *

“Come on, Toothless, how long are you going to be mad at me?” Hiccup hurried after him.

The dragon harrumphed.

“I said I was sorry.”

Oh, yes, because that made it better. Almost dying because Hiccup did something stupid, again, and ‘I’m sorry’ was supposed to make it all better.

“Bud.” Hiccup tried to cut him off, but the night fury just changed direction. “Oh, yeah, real mature of you.”

Toothless didn’t care. He ducked into their house. Hiccup hurried after yanking the door shut behind him. The dragon sat waiting for the real apology letting his tail swish back and for like an annoyed cat.

Hiccup raked his fingers through his hair. “I know I shouldn’t have walked off on my own like that. I was frustrated and wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry. I can’t promise I won’t do it again, sometimes I just.” He made a helpless gesture. “You know, needed to be alone.”

Toothless narrowed his eyes at him.

“It has nothing to do with you.” Hiccup quickly reassured.

The dragon snorted with a ‘Do I look stupid to you?’ look.

“Right, you already knew that. Of course you did.” He scratched the back of his head. “You’re mad about the going deeper into the island alone part.”

Toothless nodded.

“Would it help if I said I learned my lesson and I’m definitely never doing that again?” He gave his best smile. It didn’t get a reaction. “I worried you and I’m sorry.” Hiccup hugged Toothless around the neck. “I’ll be more careful.”

Now that is what Toothless wanted to hear. He nuzzled his human’s hair, crooing softly.

“And I’m sorry you had to suffer through Ruff and Tuff trying to ride you.”

Toothless laughed.


	11. A Skrill's Revenge

Trying to fly and steer with only half a tail fin through the Dragon Hunter ghost shipyard was near impossible, even for Toothless and Hiccup who were known for doing the impossible. Despite their best efforts, the night fury clipped the side of one of the abandoned boats sending both rider and dragon tumbling across the deck. Hiccup, thankfully, had been thrown from the saddle which prevented him from being crushed by a very heavy dragon.

Hiccup pushed himself to a knee touching a tender spot on the side of his head. “Well, that could've hurt more. I suppose.” He rolled his shoulders. “But only slightly.” He twisted to check on his lover. “How you doing, Bud?”

Toothless unsteadily climbed to his feet shaking his head. Not in the negative, but like he was trying to clear cobwebs from his brain. He gave a gummy grin to reassure Hiccup he was fine.

“We’re both alive and nothings broke.” The human also got to his feet. “I call that a win.”

Toothless couldn’t argue. It definitely wasn’t one of their worst landings, but he’d prefer never to do it again.

“Okay. Let's have a look at that tail.”

Toothless swung said tail around to show that the metal structure was all that remained and that would need some major repairs if they were going to salvage it. Neither was really all that surprised.

“Okay, I'll get your spare.” Hiccup was about to pat Toothless lovingly on the head but thought better of it. Dragon skull or not, he’d hit it pretty hard when they crashed. Instead, he stroked the scales on the side of his neck. Upon opening the saddle bag, Hiccup cringed. “Oh, apparently, that was the spare.” He forced a smile when he noticed Toothless watching him. “Well, at least we lost the Skrill.”

Toothless gave him an unamused look. That darn Skrill was making him look like a fool again. He was the better dragon. This shouldn’t be happening.

Because life is never that simple nor anyone ever that lucky, several blasts of lightning struck the boat deck in quick secession. Three of which had been too close for comfort.

A deep growl rumbled from Toothless’ chests. Grounded or not, he was going to show that Skrill what happened when you tried to hurt his human.

“He's trying to flush us out.” Hiccup put a hand on Toothless’ shoulder to calm him. “Let's see if we can find something to fix that tail.” He darted over to an intact barrel with Toothless right behind him.

Several more lightning bolts made contact with the deck.

A loud, familiar creaking sound caught Hiccup’s attention. He looked over his shoulder in the direction he believed the sound was coming from. Through the fog, he could barely make out…

“Toothless, look out!” He grabbed his lover by the saddle sides and yanked him to the deck just as the second mast dropped like a chopped tree.

Getting back to their feet again, both surveyed the area to make sure nothing else was going to spring out and try to kill them.

Hiccup smirked when he saw the sail still attached. “Oh, thank you, Dragon Hunters.”

Toothless growled low at what he knew he was thinking.

“I know, Bud, it’s not ideal.” Hiccup climbed onto the mast. “But we don’t have much of a choice right now.” He quickly, but carefully walked along it until he reached the end. He untied the ropes connecting the sail letting them drop into the ocean.

Toothless leaned over the edge as far as he could so Hiccup could hand him the sail. Making sure his teeth were retracted so he didn’t damage it, Toothless backed up dragging the sail onto the deck as Hiccup rejoined him.

“I’m going to have to use the symbol.” Hiccup said examining the sail. “It’s just until we get back to the Edge. Desperate times and all that.”

With practice ease, Hiccup fashioned a new tail fin. Toothless still wasn’t pleased about the large Dragon Hunter symbol. Yes, what self-respecting dragon wouldn’t want THAT? It was all that stupid Skrill’s fault. Watching his lover work only made him feel a little better.

Hiccup stepped back to admire his handy work. “Now, this should get us up in the air.” He stroked his dragon’s head. “But how are we going to take out that Skrill?” He rubbed his chin, an idea slowly starting to form. He lifted his metal foot into the stirrup and swung himself onto the saddle. “Then again, maybe we don't have to. I bet those Dragon Hunters would love to see this guy in action.”

A lightning bolt shot close enough to almost hit causing Hiccup to cry out in surprise and raise his arm in reflex. Looking up, the Skrill was just above them. They were no longer in hiding.

Toothless growled baring his teeth.

Hiccup patted him on the side of the neck. “Come on, bud. Let's get that Skrill to follow us.”

As much as the night fury wanted to rip the Skrill’s spines off, he trusted Hiccup. He launched himself into the air gaining altitude with a few mighty wing beats.

* * *

Hiccup dropped the bundle of sticks he’d collected onto the beach. “Okay, Toothless.”

The night fury spat a weak plasma blast lighting the fire.

The Skrill problem had been solved, again, for now at least. Knowing their luck, it was only a matter of time before it came back.

Hiccup pulled the makeshift Dragon Hunter tail from his pack and tossed it onto the fire. He plopped onto the sand leaning against Toothless. The dragon trilled happily. “I figured you’d like that.” He tipped over the bucket of fish so his lover could access the contents grabbing the smallest for himself.

Toothless immediately slurped one down whole.

“Years ago, I wonder if we could have handled the Skrill differently.” Hiccup stabbed a stick through his fish and held it over the fire. “Prevented this whole mess entirely.”

The dragon grunted. They’d been desperate and inexperienced. What were they supposed to do?

“Should have, could have, I guess. The important thing is we learned and did better the second time. I hope.”

Of course they’d done better. Toothless wouldn’t call the Skrill a friend, but he wasn’t an enemy either and that was definitely an improvement. Plus, they’d saved him from being imprisoned by Dagur and the Dragon Hunters or worse, killed for his scales.

Hiccup patted the night fury’s side. “Once again, you managed to prove that not all dragon grudges are to the death. I’m proud to call you my partner.” He paused. “Well, I’m always proud to call you that. What I mean is, ah.”

Toothless trilled cheerfully twisting to nuzzle his human then gave him a slobbery lick.

“I love you, but, gross.” He leaned away wiping at his face.

With him distracted, Toothless snatched the stick with the cooking fish from his grasp.

“Hey!” Hiccup protested trying to take it back.

Toothless scrambled to his feet keeping the fish just out of reach.

“Seriously, Bud?” When he reached for it again, Toothless danced out of the way. “Keep away. Is that what we’re doing?”

The dragon wagged his tail.

“Oh, it is on now!”


	12. Maces and Talons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, what happened to July? My plan was to have this finished then, but it just flew by! This is both episodes Maces and Talons 1 & 2 and signals the end of season 2.

Toothless and Stormfly were happy to see Windshear and an impromptu game of tag started while the humans talked. The game just as quickly ended when Windshear jumped out of the way of Toothless’ tackle and he almost fell off the sea stack. It was time for something safer.

“So.” Windshear grinned. “How are you and Hiccup?”

The night fury shot Stormfly a glare who was making a point not to look at him. Of course she told. “Aside from him doing boneheaded things and scaring the life out of me, we’re good.”

“Business as usual, then.”

Stormfly laughed.

Toothless was so glad his friends found his love life amusing. “Are you and Heather keeping safe?”

“As safe as possible while being double agents.” Windshear shook her head. “Those Dragon Hunters make me sick. I can’t wait to see them torn apart.”

“Soon.” Stormfly said hopefully. “Once this Viggo guy’s out of the picture, it should be over.”

Toothless wondered about that. If, human god Odin forbid, Stoic and Hiccup were removed, Berk would be in chaos for a bit, but they’d find a new chief and continue on. Who’s to say the Dragon Hunters couldn’t do the same?

“I know that look.” Stormfly headbutted him. “You’re thinking about something. Something unpleasant.”

She knew him too well, so he told them.

Windshear snorted smoke through her nostrils. “I don’t know much about Berk, but they probably have at least some passably smart people to take over. Not the Dragon Hunters. They’re all numbskulls. Viggo seems to be the only one with any kind of brains.”

Toothless believed her. Everything would workout in the end and the Dragon Hunters would be no more.

* * *

Hiccup rolled the broken pieces of The Traitor in his palm staring at them without really seeing them. Toothless laid beside him hating the feeling of helplessness.

What in the name of Odin were they ganna do?

Viggo had Heather and Windshear. If it hadn’t been for Ruffnut ‘borrowing’ the Dragon Eye, he would have that too.

Toothless made a soft crooning noise gently rubbing his head against his human’s side. He hated it when Hiccup blamed himself for something that wasn’t his fault. How were any of them supposed to know Viggo would be, what was the human saying? Slippery like a fox? Or was is snake?

“I underestimated him.” Hiccup said and Toothless wasn’t sure if he was talking to him or himself. “I should have been more careful. I should have dragged Heather and Windshear out of there whether they liked it or not.”

Toothless snorted. Was he referring to the same duo everyone knew?

A tiny smile appeared on Hiccup’s face. “Yeah, you’re right.” He stroked the night fury’s head. “The only thing that would have gotten me would have been a black eye, the loss of Heather’s trust, and you probably laughing at me.”

‘Not to mention a very grumpy Windshear’ Toothless thought.

“Viggo knows we’ll be coming for him, so he’ll have defenses built specifically for us.” Hiccup leaned against the black dragon. “It’s a terrible game of Maces and Talons, but we have to play it.”

Toothless swung his tail around waving his tail fin in his human’s face. This cause him to chuckle. “Right, I’m smart and inventive.” He kissed the top of the night fury’s head. “And I have you.” Hiccup clenched The Traitor pieces tightly. “Come on, Bud. We need to save Heather and Windshear and show Viggo he has no idea who he’s up against.”

Toothless sprang to his feet. Now that was his mate!


	13. Massage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This technically takes place between seasons 2 and 3.

“Okay.” Hiccup rolled out his newest plan on the low table using small rocks to keep it from rolling back up. “I have a new tail design.”

Toothless had seen enough of these that all the scribbles and words made sense. Sort of. He recognized the symbol for Gronkle Iron and the measurements. Everything else though…

“This one will be able to withstand high levels of heat.” Hiccup explained which earned him a ‘seriously?’ look from his partner. “You’re wondering when we’d ever need something like that, and I don’t have an answer for you. Yet.” He held up a finger. “But, we might need it someday for Odin only knows what. It’s better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.”

Toothless snorted. He highly doubted it. He theorized Hiccup was antsy about the Dragon Hunters and was using his inventions as excuses to keep himself busy.

He put his hands on his hips. “Okay, Mister Smarty Dragon, when you gain the ability to see into the future then you can tell me my ideas are silly until then, hush.” He bopped Toothless gently on the nose. The night fury in turn growled playfully.

* * *

Hiccup placed the tattered remains of his latest trial tailfin on his workbench. “I thought we had it this time.”

Toothless pulled the door closed after them. Considering he hadn’t almost been burnt this time, he considered it a win. His tail, however, was starting to prickle in pain and was increasing at a rapid rate.

“You didn’t get hurt, did you, Bud? You’re making a face.” He’d checked after removing the prototype, but maybe he’d missed something. When he went to check, the night fury whined softly pulling his tail out of reach.

Hiccup cocked his head slightly then nodded in understanding. “Does your fin hurt?” He wasn’t referring to his actual fin, but the one that no longer existed. Pain from a removed appendage was such a strange concept. The humans called it ‘Tyr’s Pain’ and until he’d actually experienced it for himself, Toothless wouldn’t have believed it.

For such an occasion, Goathy had given Hiccup a smelly goo he was supposed to use as he massaged, but the smell was horrendous and Toothless would not let it anywhere near his scales. Stoic hadn’t helped by demanding why there was a decaying body in his house. There hadn’t been. It was just the goo.

After tinkering with it, the two had made the smell pleasant and changed it from a goo to something closer to an oil. It worked much better for both of them.

With jar in hand, the human sat down patting his lap. Toothless swung his tail around. With years of practiced ease, Hiccup poured the oil onto his hands and started massaging the area the other fin should have occupied. “The new fins aren’t uncomfortable, are they?” That was his main concern when designing them.

The night furry shook his head closing his eyes to the soothing sensation. It had been trial and error to come this far. The first few times had been disasters, the Book of Dragons never mentioned the proper way to massage one, well, it did now, but not before.

Hiccup chuckled at the purring like sound his lover was making. “Astrid’s patience is wearing thin. I don’t think she like us using Stormfly’s magnesium blast.”

Getting her to agree in the first place had been a trial in itself. After yelling at them about how dangerous the idea was and questioning their collective intelligence, Astrid did eventually agree. When Toothless had told Stormfly the idea, she’d only commented ‘You’re supposed to be smarter than this’.

“I feel like we’re on the cusp of figuring this out. I think for next time.”

He continued to talk, but Toothless wasn’t listening. Massages were amazing. He was sorry he couldn’t return the favor when Hiccup’s missing foot bothered him or ever for that matter.

Living on The Edge and dealing with the Dragon Hunters hadn’t left a lot of time or privacy to just be together as a couple and not rider and dragon. Back on Berk, they did have responsibilities, but it was easy to slip away for a few hours. Here, there was always some kind of fire, metaphorically and physically, to put out. This quite and alone time was precious.

“Bud, are you paying attention?” The response was an incoherent gurgle noise which caused Hiccup to chuckle again. “Maybe we should take a break from testing. How does going for a swim later sound?”

Toothless trilled in agreement.

“Oh, I see, now you’re paying attention.”

Something smacked into the side of the house causing them both to jump then a terrible terror groggily crawled in through the window. Toothless was able to twist himself without moving too much to pick the smaller dragon up and bring it to Hiccup. There was a rolled piece of paper tied to its leg. The human quickly wiped his hands on one of the many spare rags lying around before untying the letter.

“You okay?” Toothless asked the terrible terror.

“I miss judged the opening.”

“So we heard.”

The two dragons watched Hiccup pace as he read over the letter. He crumpled it angerly tossing it into the forge cursing. “Still no news of him.”

‘Him’ could only mean Viggo.

“If Trader Johann hasn’t heard anything, then there isn’t anything.” He continued to pace rubbing his jaw. “What could he be planning? He has the Dragon Eye. What is he waiting for?”

Toothless sighed. Well, the moment had been nice while it lasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tyr's Pain. I think I'm very witty.


	14. Enemy of my Enemy

The landing on the unknown island was less than stellar. It was quite painful, but not as painful as the Dragon Root arrow that struck Toothless.

Hiccup hopped off as quickly as possible. “I gotcha, Toothless! I'm right here!” He spoke soothingly. He examined the arrow sticking out of the dragon’s tail. “I know, Dragon Root!” He grabbed the shaft of the arrow and yanked it free. “We just gotta wait it out, Bud!” He tossed the offending arrow aside. “But who knows how long that's gonna take! C'mon!”

It was an effort, but Hiccup managed to help Toothless to his feet and lead a very wobbly dragon. “There should be a cave or something at the rock formation. We can hide there until you’ve recovered.”

Toothless didn’t have much of an opinion at the moment. He was focused on moving his feet and not falling on his human. If he did that, he wasn’t sure he could get back up on his own. 

* * *

Getting to a useable cave was a trial and a half, but they managed it and Toothless dropped to the floor with a dull ‘thud’.

“Oh, I am so sorry, Bud, I'm so sorry I got us into this!” Hiccup hugged his dragon tightly. “I know, Bud! I know, Bud!”

Toothless tried to nuzzle him, but it lacked coordination and turned into a bump.

“Oh, why didn't I listen, why didn't I listen, what is wrong with me?”

Toothless tried to control himself, but there was a spike of pain and a cry escaped.

“Shh, shh, shhh! Toothless, please!” Hiccup stroked the black scales on the side of his face. “I know it hurts.” He couldn’t let the hunters find them. Without Toothless he was badly outnumbered and wouldn’t stand much of a chance. He had to do something to protect his love. “Ok, you stay still and keep quiet. I'm gonna buy us some time.” He gave Toothless a kiss on the head before exiting the cave. He started to pile greenery over the opening. “I'll be back for you! I promise!”

Toothless could only watch helplessly as he was sealed in. He shrieked in protest, but either he’d made no sound or Hiccup hadn’t heard him, because there was no response.

He couldn’t stay here. Hiccup needed him. He had to protect him. He tried to push himself up. All four of his legs gave out instantaneously and he collapsed. This time he was able to keep from making a noise.

How could Toothless have let his happen? He should have been faster. He should have worn that annoying armor.

* * *

Hiccup knew Toothless was heavy, he’d playfully flopped on him multiple times, but having to guide and carry some of his dead weight was tougher than it sounded, not that Hiccup would ever complain about it. None of this was Toothless’ fault. No need to make him feel bad on top of everything that was going on. If Dagur hadn’t been there, the words of encouragement would have been accompanied by a kiss.

A growl that came out more like a gurgle escaped the night furry. If that deranged weirdo didn’t take his hand off his butt, Toothless was going to bite it off the first chance that came along.

“Dagur, if you want to keep your hand, I strongly suggest you place it somewhere else.” Hiccup warned not that he cared if his ‘brother’ lost a hand or not.

Dagur looked puzzled.

“Sedated or not, a night fury is not to be trifled with.”

“Uh, there aren’t a lot of places to support back here.” He made a helpless gesture. “If he does bite my hand off, you gana make me a cool prosthetic? Oh! Can it be a cross bow? Sometimes I like to shoot people in the foot so they can’t run away.” He laughed his chaotic laugh for a few seconds before stopping himself and muttering words about not thinking like that.

Hiccup exchanged a look with Toothless. Even in his muddled state, the dragon thought this was weird. “Maybe we should just change placed.” 

* * *

After dressing Dagur’s wound and making him as comfortable as one could be on a cave floor, Hiccup went over to check on Toothless.

When he’d returned half carrying half dragging Dagur back, the night furry hadn’t reacted at all. Nothing that told Hiccup Toothless was aware he was even there. He was still breathing steadily, almost like he was sleeping, but Toothless was never that heavy of a sleeper.

“Hey, Bud.” Hiccup placed a hand on the massive black head.

No reaction.

“Toothless?” Hiccup knelt beside him. “Come on, Bud, do something, anything.”

He held his breath waiting for some kind of sign that his lover wasn’t too deep.

‘Swish’.

Hiccup twisted just in time to see the long black tail wag ever so slightly across the floor. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Of course Toothless was still with him. Hiccup kissed the night furry between the eyes. “Hold on just a little longer, Bud. Once you have the cure and we’re back at the Edge, I’ll feed you so much fish you’ll get sick of them.”

* * *

Toothless gave his head a vicious shake to clear it of the remaining cobwebs and reorientate himself. Hiccup had accused Dagur of lying about the cure and attacked him. The two had tumbled out the cave and Toothless had no idea where they’d gone. Those Dragon Hunters could have his Hiccup! And Dagur too, he supposed. Now that the affect of the dragon root arrow had diminished, it was time for some major payback, and it would be double if Hiccup was hurt.

Someone was approaching. Toothless opened his mouth readying a plasma blast for anyone that wasn’t his human.

Dagur burst through the waterfall. “Ah, good you’re.” He realized what was aimed at him and held up both hands in surrender. “Easy there, little buddy.”

The plasma blast power grew.

“It’s me, Hiccup’s brother. I’m the reason you’re back on your feet so fast.”

That was all well and good, and Toothless was grateful for that, but Hiccup AND Dagur had fallen from the cave and only Dagur had come back.

“The Dragon Hunters have Hiccup. If we’re going to rescue him, we need to work together.”

Toothless extinguished the plasma blast, smoke billowing from his mouth. They had Hiccup and who knew what they were going to do to him.

Dagur heaved a sigh of relief. “For a second there, I really thought you were going to kill me.” He did his manic laugh which always grated on Toothless’ nerves. “We need to start running if we’re going to catch them in time.”

Toothless had a better idea.

He grabbed Dagur by the middle and tossed him like a rag doll onto his back before launching himself through the waterfall. Dagur’s screams of terror echoing behind them.


End file.
